Wednesday, November 26, 2014

The final review of the Ferguson tragedy

Yes, the death of an 18 year old boy is always a
tragedy. Yet the sad reality of the situation leading to the death of
Michael Brown is not that complex or hard to understand.

1- He had just stolen some cigars from a convenience store,
and was videotaped shoving the protesting store clerk out of his way as he left
with them

2- He and his friend were walking down the middle of a
street, posing a problem to traffic and putting themselves in danger

3- When a passing police officer saw this, he went to the
two of them to ask them to get out of the street, which is what he was supposed
to do. Brown replied aggressively with nasty language.

4- When the officer was back in his car, having walked away
from the two of them, Brown followed him, abusing him verbally, and when then
slammed the car door on the officer. Then he reached in through the open
window and punched him hard in the face. When the officer, who did not
have a Taser, pulled his weapon to face off this attack, Brown grabbed the gun
and tried to pull it away, and when it finally went off, it left powder debris
on his hand, showing he was holding the gun at the time

5- Once Brown walked away, the officer got out of the car to
follow and arrest him, which again is what he was supposed to do.
Assaulting a police officer is a serious offense, and following this out of
control young man to prevent other incidents is also the officer's duty

6- Finally Brown turned and came at the officer, who fired
his gun several times in rapid succession, not aiming all that well, probably
due to fear for his life, but the last shot struck Brown fatally and he fell
forwards

7- And lastly, the autopsy showed that Brown had THC in his
system, so his actions may very well have been related to being high on
marijuana, which can badly impair people's judgment and emotional state.

This was never about race, telling people walking in the
street to stop doing that is what any officer, of any race, is supposed to do,
regardless of the race of the people in the street.

Reacting to a physical attack to defend himself and then to
follow and arrest the attacker is what any officer, of any race, is supposed to
do, regardless of the race of the attacker.

Finally, shooting an attacker coming at the officer is what
any officer, of any race, is going to do, regardless of the race of the
attacker.

This is not about Black lives being worth less than White
ones in the eyes of the police or anyone else. More Black lives are taken
by other Blacks by far, very, very far, than are taken by police in this
country. Was the officer supposed to not say anything to the two young
men in the street, because they were Black and he was White?

And somehow this makes it OK for mobs to burn and loot
businesses, most of whom are owned by Blacks? And others march in
highways to disrupt traffic to do what? Show they are upset by this
senseless death, when there are so many more senseless deaths in the Black communities
of this country every day? None of this serves any good purpose, but to
tell Blacks that they must be right, every White cop is out to kill them any
chance they get, which just widens and deepens the racial divide in this
country, that we so desperately need to heal over. How long will it take
for us to just get back to the mental attitudes we had even six years
ago? We are all the poorer for this tragedy, but not because of the color
of our skins, but because of the attitudes that have been strengthened.